The Unusual
by JelisseArmada
Summary: "Kiss me, Lily." he whispered into her ear. "I... I can't do this, James." her almond green eyes were downcast, staring at the ground. There was a quiet kind of sadness in them, the kind that hurt him as well. "Why not?" "Because I only do this with people I don't care about." "And you care about me?" "Yes. Yes I do."


Lily Evans was an unusual girl.

She wore no makeup, and never even considered dyeing her flaming red hair another shade. And she certainly shared no interest with the other girls in ogling or discussing the many good-looking wizards in their year. For instance, James Potter.

James Potter thought Lily Evans was an unusual girl. Not in a particularly bad way or anything. He just couldn't seem to figure her out. And figuring people out was usually one of his strong perks. The Golden Boy Potter, he charmed everyone with his good looks and smooth tongue. Kept to himself, he knew it only worked due to his overload of inquisitiveness and perception. He knew Professor Slughorn liked crystallized pineapple, and he knew Lucius Malfoy had a skin condition that didn't allow him to last very long under the sun. He knew many things, and he used his knowledge to his advantage.

But Lily Evans was another issue. She always seemed quiet, gentle. She was clearly observant enough, and smart too, as she was always top of nearly all the classes, except Charms, which he dominated. The thing is she always seemed like she was simply observing him rather than the latter. Nearly always one step ahead of him. How was he supposed to charm his way over to her good side if he didn't know how?

And so James Potter left her a mystery unsolved.

She was beautiful though. She had always been beautiful in James's mind. Her porcelain skin, her honey sweet smile that oozed sensuality and her thick locks of flaming red hair hanging over her face as she buried her nose in her latest book; the image of her that never failed to capture his eye ever since first year.

And it had been six years, and he still couldn't quite figure her out.

* * *

Lily smiled as she ushered first years into their classes. Cute little things that were barely up to her shoulders, she thought. It was the first day of the winter term at Hogwarts, and breakfast had just commenced. Professor Mcgonagall had tasked her and the other sixth-year prefects with the jobs of making sure all the students were in class before entering class themselves.

Most of the corridors were clear, it seemed to her. She began her journey to the Tower to enter a due Astronomy class.

Suddenly, a bang sounded across the corridor two floors above her.

With a startled look, she made eye contact with the other prefects, including a disgruntled Remus Lupin who just rolled his eyes.

She heard him mutter something like "Prongs…" under his breath, but she wasn't sure.

"Potter," one of the other prefects said with a scowl on his face.

And there he was, James Potter himself, flying across the hallway on an expensive-looking broomstick like he owned the place; Sirius Black not far behind him, in peals of laughter on foot.

Accidentally knocking into a suit of armour as he continued his escapade, he noticed the group of annoyed prefects glaring at him, Lupin shaking his head with a wry smile. And Lily.

His gaze lingering on the redhead for a fraction of a second too long, he broke into a grin.

"All right, Evans?"

He smiled at her. Lily merely raised her eyebrow at him.

"Now would hardly be the time for a greeting Potter. Shouldn't you be in class?" she said coolly.

Smirking a little, James turned his attention away from the prefects and looked down at Sirius, who merely stared at him, bored.

"What?" said Sirius.

James pretended to heave a sigh. "Shall we be a couple of good students this term and go back to class just like the ickle prefects want us to?"

Sirius snickered, and Lily frowned. _Ickle_ prefects, he said?

"Yeah, let's go. Flitwick'll have our heads anyway. Might as well try learning the first charm of the year."

"I'll just be on my way now." James gave a mock bow on the broomstick and started to move away.

Lily pulled out her wand.

James gave a yelp as the space beneath him gave way. With a clutter, he landed on the ground. Sirius burst into laughter. An angry glare came onto James's face.

"Who did that?" he muttered.

His eyes landed on his broomstick, which was in the hands of Lily Evans.

His insides gave a small churn. Why did it have to be her?

"Sorry Potter. Rules are rules. This is going to Mcgonagall. You, on the other hand… have to go back to class."

"Give me back my broomstick, Evans." James retorted rudely. He really couldn't help it. Not even Evans could stand between him and his beloved broomstick.

Lily raised an eyebrow again, slightly taken aback by his tone. James had never been rude to her, even though they never spoke much. He had always been the polite one.

Her face was impassive. "Rules are rules, Potter. I'm sorry."

The other prefects, including Lupin, were watching this little exchange between Lily and James, either amused or in awe of both.

James pulled out his wand. "I said, _give it back_, Evans." He gritted his teeth. James was used to having his way all the time, and he certainly didn't like being treated this way.

Remus, noticing it was getting out of hand, pulled out his wand as well. "James, come on…"

"Leave me alone," muttered James, pushing past Remus who was trying to block Lily from James's view, not wanting it to get out of hand.

Lily merely stared at James, her gaze cold. "You really shouldn't do things like that."

"And you really shouldn't be such a stickler for the rules, Evans. Now give me back my broomstick before I hex you."

"Prongs, come on… it's not worth it," muttered Sirius, but this went ignored by James.

"She's a girl, James. Snap out of it." added Remus hastily.

The high heeled footsteps of Professor Mcgonagall herself came into hearing, and before Lily or James could react, the professor appeared, her tiger like gaze sweeping onto the scene before her.

"What is this?" she barked. "Potter, Black, what are you doing?" her eyes lingering on where James had pointed his wand at Lily. James hastily shoved his wand back into his robes as McGonagall's gaze hardened and her lips thinned.

"Duelling on your first day back in school is not a wise choice, Potter, not wise at all. Magic in the corridors is strictly not allowed. Fifty points from Gryffindor. Mr. Black, feel lucky that I am in a good mood today, otherwise your house points would show up as a negative figure on the display board, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen now, would you?"

Sirius gulped and shook his head.

"Miss Evans, is that Mr. Potter's broomstick you have on you?"

Lily gulped and nodded mutely; feel slightly guilty for having inflicted this on Potter. Maybe she should have just let him go just now.

"And if you may..."

The broomstick soared in the air once more, this time into the professor's grasp.

"Good. Now, back to class, all of you. Potter and Evans, my office during lunch break."

Everyone walked back toward their respective classes, and James found himself alone with Sirius.

Opening his mouth to furiously say something to Lily Evans, on _whose_ fault it was that fifty points had been deducted from Gryffindor house, he found her out of sight with a flick of her red hair.

James sighed and ruffled his hair in habit, frustrated and annoyed that his broomstick was in possession of Professor McGonagall.

"Can you believe Evans?" he said furiously to Sirius, who glared back at him.

"Come on, mate! She was just doing her job. You shouldn't have done whatever you just did, much less point your bloody wand up her face. You're lucky McGonagall didn't dish out detention to us today."

"You're on her side now?" James retorted bitterly.

"Get it in your head, mate! I'm not on anybody's side! What am I supposed to do if my best friend's being a bloody arse?" Sirius retorted, annoyed.

James appeared taken aback by Sirius's tone. Sirius sighed.

"Let's just get back to class, alright? You can go see McGonagall later and clear this up." Sirius's expression meant he didn't want to discuss this any further, and that it was clearly James's fault for getting them into this mess.

"Fine." James's answer was monosyllabic and hollow.

They both trudged back to class, a grudging silence between both of them. it was going to be a long day.


End file.
